


Remember the Love (Part 1)

by ellis_end



Category: Rent (2005), Rent - Larson
Genre: Angst, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24115900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellis_end/pseuds/ellis_end
Summary: Maureen misses Joanne after their break-up
Relationships: Joanne Jefferson/Maureen Johnson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	Remember the Love (Part 1)

It’s been two weeks since they both stormed out of their engagement party intent on never seeing each other again, or so Maureen thought. She immersed herself in a circle of protesting, partying and sleeping with strangers.

She was too busy to even meet Mark, Collins and Angel for a cup of coffee on a Friday afternoon. Roger and Mimi were going through another one of their rough patches so both were nowhere to be found. It was comforting to know that hers wasn’t the only screwed-up love life. 

Whenever Maureen found herself idle, with nothing to occupy her minds but through of Joanne, she was horrified. Horrified her mind still dared think about the stick-up lawyer. It was HER who had a problem with Maureen, not the other way around. Joanne was just a fling, and flings didn’t work out all the time... right?

Two months after their breakup, Maureen’s time was frequently occupied by visits to the hospital. Angel’s health was on a continuous downward spiral. Nobody wanted to acknowledge it but everybody knew that she was nearing her end. 

These days Maureen spent her afternoons in a hospital chair and evening drinking away her sorrows with Mark, Collins and Roger... with Mimi passed out next to them from drugs, another thing no one seemed to want to bring up. These days they were all avoiding difficult subjects, all trying to get through the hard times without going insane. 

Maureen spent the early mornings of her sleepless nights reading in her apartment, not getting a word past one sentence. Her mind too busy with thoughts about Angel and occasionally Joanne to focus on Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. 

Once in a while a thought about her ex would slip out from the back of her mind into Maureen’s attention. Perhaps a thought about the moment Joanne agreed to marry her. Or about the countless mornings they spent together laying in her bed naked taking about their passions or simply laying in silence breathing in each other’s scents, Joanne playing with Maureen’s long brunette hair. Or the times they went out to the club and danced together, sweaty bodies moving against each other, tension building up which later led to amazing sex. Or all the conversations they had about literature, art and the injustices of modern society. Or the kisses they shared, kisses of all kinds, sweet, rough, chaste pecks. 

Maureen found her anger at Joanne cooling down, faster than she liked. She liked to think that she was immune from longing, from missing her ex’s. She didn’t miss Mark that much after they parted ways, at least not half as much as she missed Joanne. No she DID NOT miss Joanne... Maureen Johnson simply didn’t miss people. 

And Maureen did not stray far from her resolution of not missing Joanne until the day she walked through the door Angel’s hospital room and found her ex sitting next to the bed holding Angel’s head with her dazzling smile on her lips, the one that made Maureen secretly swoon every time she saw it. 

Joanne has just gotten back from another one of her business trips. When they were dating Joanne’s long-time absence annoyed Maureen at first, then it gave her an opportunity for a greater romantic freedom, which meant cheating behind Joanne’s back, now she wished she could take it all back. 

Suddenly Maureen found herself missing Joanne. Yes missing. Since their surprising rangez vous at the hospital her bed began to get colder with each night, proof of Maureen’s distress. She stopped sleeping around, not finding it so thrilling anymore.   
Instead she booked more protests and dedicated more and more of her time to Angel. She even found herself spending more time with Mark talking, drinking and watching bits and pieces of his movie.   
All of this while thoughts of Joanne fluttered at the back of her mind. 

Next months went by in a blur of hospital visits and protests finally culminating in a single phone call. 

Maureen picked it up only to hear Collins’ breaking voice as he choked out the words everyone has been dreading for months. Angel was dead. 

It was on his funeral that Maureen saw Joanne again. Everyone was silent at first. Immersed in their grief. But the arrival of Benny with Mimi on his arm stirred up carefully buried emotions in everyone, especially Roger. And when Mimi started asking questions the situation spiralled out of control. With conflict bubbling underneath everyone’s skin for months it was really not surprising. 

After the reproaches, screams and buckets of tears Roger stormed off, intent on leaving for Santa Fe straight away. But Maureen could not pull her eyes away from Joanne’s tear stained face. Her sad eyes looking into her while little sniffs escaped her mouth. 

And in that moment Maureen decided she couldn’t MISS Joanne anymore. She couldn’t spend another night remembering her touch, Remembering the Love they shared. 

So she did what she longed to do for the last seven months. She wiped Joanne’s tears with her thumb and kissed her.


End file.
